It’s In Queens!

News From The Queens Tourism Council

The 2013 US Open tennis championship is the center of Queens activities right now, bringing more than 700,000 fans to the borough in only two weeks. But there are many other attractions going on during and after the matches, including a raunchy comedy festival, an NYC-centric film series, street fairs and the ultimate Michael Jackson tribute band.

• Thursday, Aug. 29, QEDC Networking and Live in the Sky Concert Series, 5:30 p.m to midnight. Join about 150 other people with Queens interests at a free networking party. Then listen to live music and enjoy a cash bar with happy hour specials on a rooftop with breath-taking views of the Midtown Manhattan skyline. Z Hotel NYC, 11-01 43rd Ave., LIC, www.zhotelny.com.

• Thursday, Aug. 29, Movies Under the Stars: Kinky Boots, 8 p.m. The new hit Broadway show is based on this movie, which tells an inspiring, true story. The film is sponsored by the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee and City Council Member Mark Weprin. Free. Main Park House, Cunningham Park, 196th Street and Union Turnpike, Fresh Meadows, www.nycgovparks.org.

• Friday, Aug. 30, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, 7 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image (MMI) hosts “Fun City: New York in the Movies, 1967-75,” which shows NYC-filmed flicks that tapped into the turmoil, chaos and social energies of the late 1960s and early 1970s. With Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo, this hijacking thriller was filmed on location—mainly in the tunnel of the abandoned Court Street subway station in Brooklyn and outside the subway entrance on 28th Street and Park Avenue South. The movie’s star character is Lower East Side-born Matthau’s jaundiced police inspector. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.

• Friday, Aug. 30, Who’s Bad? The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band, 8 p.m. This group will capture hearts and ignite the crowd with a power-packed performance of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. Free for the first 1,000 people. Resorts World Casino New York City, 110-00 Rockaway Blvd, Jamaica, www.rwnewyork.com.

• Saturday, Aug. 31, Taking Off, 2 p.m; Born to Win, 5 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image hosts “Fun City: New York in the Movies, 1967-75,” which shows NYC-filmed flicks that tapped into the turmoil, chaos and social energies of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In Taking Off, a solemn high school student vanishes into the East Village, forcing her clueless parents to leave Queens and check out the Manhattan counterculture. The sweetest of generation gap movies, Czech exile Milos Forman’s first American production was shot in and around NYC during the summer of 1970; the director discovered his 16-year-old star in Central Park hanging with the hippies around Bethesda Fountain. In Born to Win, George Segal plays a hipster hairdresser who is addicted to smack. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.

• Saturday, Aug. 31, Dance at Socrates: Rachel Cohen/racoco productions, 3 p.m. Spelled without a capital letter, racoco productions removes the boundaries between visual and performing arts, the audience and the performers, as well as the real and the imaginary. Free. Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., LIC, www.socratessculpturepark.org.

• Sunday, Sept. 1, Open Studio: Paper, 11 a.m to 1 p.m. Families are encouraged to explore the galleries and make art in the Education Room in response to their experiences. Educators are present to discuss gallery connections, introduce materials, and assist with art making. Each month features a different project that relates to the permanent collection and special exhibitions. $10 per family, includes museum admission and materials. Noguchi Museum, 32-37 Vernon Blvd, LIC, www.noguchi.org.

• Sunday, Sept. 1, The Panic in Needle Park, 2 p.m; Dog Day Afternoon, 5 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image hosts “Fun City: New York in the Movies, 1967-75,” which shows NYC-filmed flicks that tapped into the turmoil, chaos and social energies of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Al Pacino made his film debut as a fast-talking junkie in The Panic in Needle Park, which is filled with choice Fun City locations, including an authentic cold water loft and the then hustler-ridden Whalen’s drugstore at the corner of 8th Street and Sixth Avenue. The triangle where Broadway crosses 72nd Street stands in for the eponymous hangout, a block away, but the ambience is real. The extras were people who’d come off the streets, including real heroin addicts. Al Pacino also stars in Dog Day Afternoon, based on a bizarre 1972 bank robbery staged blocks from the movie’s Brooklyn location. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.